Clause 28.—(APPEAL TO MINISTER AGAINST ENFORCEMENT NOTICE.) (Hansard, 2 June 1960)

§ Sir K. Joseph
I beg to move, in page 20, line 34, to leave out from "not" to "within" in line 36 and to insert: served on the owner or occupier of the land. May we take this Amendment, Mr. Speaker, with the four following Amendments in the name of my right hon. Friend?

§ Mr. Speaker
They may be discussed together.

§ Sir K. Joseph
This group of Amendments arises from observations by the hon. and learned Member for Liverpool, Edge Hill (Mr. A. J. Irvine) during the Committee stage discussions. He said that the present drafting of paragraph (e) in Clause 28 (1) defines due service of the enforcement notice in terms of the observation of the four-year period and makes the service within that period an essential part of due service of the enforcement notice. This was not the intention of the Government, and so we have put down Amendments which together result in changing subsection (1, e) of the Clause to read: that the enforcement notice was not served on the owner or occupier of the land within the relevant period of four years specified in subsection (1) of section twenty-three of the Act of 1947. The House will observe that we are not now using the phrase "due service". The other Amendments eliminate the word "duly "from later references to service in the enforcement notice. I hope that the House will accept this group of Amendments.

§ Mr. Graham Page
I beg to move, in page 21, line 31, to leave out "may" and to insert "shall".
Subsection (6) of Clause 28 makes provision for directions to be given by the Minister if he has to determine an appeal. It provides for that only in a permissive way. It says that. the Minister may give directions for giving effect to his determination, including where 1725 appropriate directions for quashing the enforcement notice … if, for example, the right hon. Gentleman has found in favour of the appellant and the enforcement order is to be of no effect. If he does not quash it, certain things may follow from the fact that the notice is still in operation. Therefore, I seek to make this subsection mandatory on the Minister and to substitute the word "may for the word "shall" so that it will read: on the determination of an appeal under this section the Minister shall give directions for giving effect to his determination…

§ Sir K. Joseph
My hon. Friend accepts that in this situation he will be bound either to quash or vary the terms of the enforcement notice, and therefore he advises the House to accept the Amendment.